Hi folks. sorry that my first intro is asking for help. I have just privately bought an '05 4.4L V8 Disco 3 here in Canadaland, and it's giving me grief already. Typical! I was hoping to spend some time restoring my 110 over the next few weeks

The LR3 was shipped to Nova Scotia from Ottawa on a transporter, and seemingly drove fine before and during transportation.

Yesterday, which is the first time I've seen the vehicle first hand (I know!) a ton of faults came up and all manner of lights, including constant hazards flashing, even with the key out of the ignition. I got it started once and briefly drove it, with hazards flashing and faults still showing.

I turned it off, and tried to turn back on, but couldn't start it again. For some reason, and it could be a coincidence, the hazard lights turned off when I pressed the HDC button. They did not come back on when I pressed it again.

The error messages present themselves in the following order:

Transmission fault - limited gears available
Transmission fault - traction reduced
HDC fault - system not available
Engine system fault
System fault special program not available

I seem to recall seeing Suspension lowered at some point today as well.

The following lights are on:

Amber parking brake
Red parking brake (flashes)
Battery
Oil
Airbag
Yellow exclamation inside circular arrow (what is this?)
Red vehicle with up/down and left/right arrows (what is this?)

The coolant gauge also goes to maximum hot and the red light is on.

Today I put it on charge for a couple of hours as the battery voltage was only 11.8V and was able to start it. The following faults were still showing:

Transmission fault
CEL
Big F in the gear indicator

I went for a brief drive and the dash lit up like a christmas tree when I tried to go fast enough to change gear, including hazards. Reverse and first were fine. It seemed limited to 2k RPM.

I turned it off, and tried to restart, but to no avail. Thinking it could be starter contacts, I tried the ol' off/on quickly, but to no avail. I can hear a single click in the glovebox, which I assume is the relay? It does not crank. Bashing the instrument cluster like an ape does not help, which can apparently be a source of issues like this.

Blindly hoping the battery just needs charging as it hasn't had much use in the last few weeks and wanting to get out of the snow, I'm leaving the car on charge overnight to see if that cures the issue. I doubt it, but trying to be optimistic. The battery was new in January and is LR OE.

The vehicle has some iffy history, including water ingress that required a new CJB (coded by LR) and cowl because the old one was warped. It also had a new brake pedal switch and OE brake light bulbs, which can apparently cause my symptoms. I will verify if the brake lights still work when possible.

I'm going to:

Hard reset (connect battery +ve and -ve wires) to discharge the computers
Check fuse F30, which I think powers the TCM?
Check main earth wires - advice on where these are will be helpful!
Check CEL codes with OBDII reader, although I'll likely need LR to read some for me. Getting it there will be a problem though.
Check the wires in the passenger sill, which I believe contains some red wire splices that corrode? I read that someone had pinched CAN bus wires in there too.
Check wires in drivers footwell - I read there are some ground wires that splice there?
Check thermostat sensor wiring
Inspect the TCM and connectors
Check the PCM and connectors
Inspect connector blocks and wires in rear arches, which I read is where some of the CAN BUS wires go
Check CJB connectors (will probably need to wait a while to do this)
Bypass the starter relay, if recommended

I read that the high temp gauge is a symptom that there is a comms issues between the IP and PCM. Is the IP the instrument panel/cluster? Does this sound feasible alongside all of the other symptoms?

Any pointers will be very much appreciated. I'm technical but do not know this vehicle terribly well yet, and it's been a few years since I've routinely used a multimeter.

 

Boy that is a lot. I'd start with electrical (battery, grounds, things affected by water ingress) then move on to brake switch and such. Get an IIDTool by GAP Diagnostics if you're going to keep the LR3. It will save you time and money.

 

The problems you have seem to stem from the battery/alternator. Battery should have 12.8v when sitting there and around 14.4v just after starting. A check of the alternator and battery connections required.

 

I ordered an IID Tool today, and the vehicle is still on charge, which I'm not able to get to until tomorrow now unfortunately.

Should I be getting a new battery if it's gone down to 11.8V, or do you think charging for 36 hours will suffice?

 

I would get a load test on the battery as it looks a possible problem

 

I put in a new battery today and it started up a couple times without issues. The hazards could be turned off, the CEL cleared on it's own, and the transmission changed gears. I'm cautiously optimistic that all is well for now! Thank you to everyone who has helped

 

Knew it was too early to call!

It crapped out on me on the highway, with all the usual faults. I restarted and it behaved, albeit with a CEL, until on my driveway.

Battery voltage is 12.8v. Alternator is kicking out 13.65 at idle. Feedback on these figures will be appreciated.

Oh, and the damned sunroof won't recalibrate after many attempts so is partially open. Grrr. It's like the anti jam is kicking in prematurely, or perhaps the battery voltage is too low for that as well?